1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to disposable garments having unique adhesive fastener tabs and new adhesive products from which to form such fastener tabs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Disposable garments, e.g., diapers, surgical gowns, bibs, aprons, etc., have become high sales volume items. Hence, much research and development work has been devoted to improving their construction and their methods of manufacture (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,462 with reference to diapers). This invention concerns further improvements in disposable garments.
Most all disposable garments, particularly disposable diapers, need to include, as an essential part, some means for fastening the garments about the body of the wearer. The most prevalent fastener means currently used are flexible tabs with a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive that permits the tab fixed to one part of the garment to secure its free end to another part thereby forming a garment closure. However, such adhesive tab fasteners have presented some problems to which serious attention has been given by manufacturers of the garments.
For disposable diapers to be fully acceptable to purchasers, their fasteners should permit the diaper, once fastened, to be unfastened so the extent of soiling, if any, thereof can be inspected and thereafter refastened if the soiling is not enough to warrant disposal of the diaper. One problem with prior known fastener tabs has been their inability to permit such refastening (called "repositioning"). Thus, in order for the tabs to work properly and not become accidently unfastened, agressive pressure-sensitive adhesives have been used with the tabs. However, when an attempt is made to reposition such tabs, the adhesive does not want to release from the diaper with the result that it becomes torn and must be discarded.
The repositioning problem is increased by the desire of diaper manufacturers to use very thin, liquid-impermeable film as the outer cover material of the diapers. If the diaper is structured so the adhesive tab adheres directly to this outer cover film, the thinner the film, the greater the potential for the diaper to tear when tap repositioning is attempted. Hence, one way to mitigate the tearing problem is to make the outer cover film more robust, i.e., thicker. However, this increases product costs and reduces garment comfort by reducing subtlety.
Other methods of mitigating the repositioning problem is to structure the diapers so that the adhesive surface of the fastener tabs does not adhere directly to the thin outer cover film (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,450) or to "toughen" an area of the cover film by some type of treatment (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,730). However, these approachs to the problem also increase product costs and limit the areas on the diaper to which the tabs may be repositioned.
In spite of the extensive prior art work expended in improving disposable diapers and other garments, including their fastener tabs (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,178,933; 4,227,530 & 4,345,597) a real need exists for a better solution to the fastener tab repositioning problem as discussed above.